EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART HI 139 



Mr. C. E. Cameron: I am very much interested in the discussion of our 

 members here this afternoon, and I certainly have heard some very help- 

 ful remarks and suggestions about conducting fairs. I had my connection 

 with county fair work at one time, and I know from experience what 

 must be contended with. I was for sixteen years secretary of our county 

 fair at home, and the biggest asset I found to the county fair was the 

 loyalty of the people in the vicinity in which the fair was located. 



Take up the question this gentleman spoke of, the question of counter 

 attractions downtown. That can be regulated by the loyalty of the town. 

 If the town does not believe in a fair, the county fair cannot be made a 

 success. Take, for instance, Des Moines. When I first became connected 

 with the Iowa State Fair, we used to have counter attractions; they used 

 to open up the streets of the town and let in carnivals and have that kind 

 of things here in Des Moines. When we commenced to put on night sho^s 

 at Des Moines, we found we couldn't make a success if they put on a 

 free attraction downtown. We went to the city council and talked the 

 matter over with them. We said, "If this fair is not of more benefit to 

 the people of Des Moines and to the business interests of Des Moines than 

 this carnival company, then one or the other of us will quit." And I am 

 very glad to say that the business interests of the city of Des Moines and 

 the city council have shut out any attractions that interfere with the 

 fair. We haven't asked them to close their opera houses because our fair 

 runs eight or ten days and people who come and see our night shows two 

 or three nights want to come downtown and see the other attractions. 



As you all know, our night shows consist largely of fireworks. I don't 

 think you can carry on a night show successfully without some portion 

 of fireworks attractions. We have had them at Alta for four or five years. 

 We tried at first to carry them on without putting any curtains around 

 the fireworks show, but we have found that people who come up to pay 

 at the gate in the day time would run their autos as close as they could 

 and not go inside, and would in that way see as much as the people who 

 paid to go inside. The first year we barely took in enough to defray 

 expenses of the show. We went to the people and told them it was im- 

 possible to put on that night display unless they paid their money. The 

 next year we put up an eight-foot canvas fence around the grand stand, 

 and shut out the people who tried to take in the night show from their 

 autos. 



While our fair charges 50 cents ,at the gate, we give a passing-out 

 check which protects the holder. The larger fairs cannot do that, but 

 the smaller fairs it seems to me must do that. If we have eight or ten 

 thousand people at the county fair in the day time, we are getting to the 

 limit and we are getting all the people that are coming. So we have a 

 pass check good up until 5 o'clock in the evening, and after five o'clock 

 an evening ticket is sold for 25 cents with a coupon attached. When they 

 buy that they have the coupon attached which is good at the grand stand. 

 If people who attend in the day time want to go up town to get their 

 supper or visit their neighbors or friends, they can do so, but when they 

 come down in the evening they must pay 25 cents but that includes coupon 

 to the grand stand, which is detached at the grand stand gate. 



Since we have tried that method we have increased receipts at our night 

 show over 300 per cent. NoW, people of course hollered a great deal be- 



